Weekly Dealer Car Enquiries: March 6, 2022

In this series, which we aim to bring to you every week, we’ll be detailing some of the key numbers and trends that we’re seeing in terms of dealer connections made through our site.

As this data is considered somewhat representative of broader industry activity, and serves as one of the more insightful leading indicators for potential car sales, we hope it will fulfil a few purposes for our broad audience. First, to document not just how we’re performing as a business, but how dealers and the wider market stand to perform, so you don’t have to wait til that next set of official sales data.

Without further ado, here’s what happened over the last week.

Total new car enquiries

New car enquiries bounced 39.7% higher last week, which came as somewhat of a surprise given the broader issues both home and abroad that are weighing on sentiment. We are of course referring to the tragic war in Ukraine, as well as the devastating floods across parts of Australia on the east coast. 

Nonetheless, it appears there has been a growing appetite for new cars, at least temporarily, with dealer connections rising from just 1,028 in the seven-day period ending February 27, 2022, to a total of 1,436 in the subsequent seven-day period. 

We expect numbers from here on may prove somewhat volatile, but it’s also worth noting that the effects of the war in Ukraine are likely to lead to significant inflationary pressure around the world. Oil prices have already skyrocketed, and it has flown through to the petrol pump. 

At a time when the global supply chain is already dealing with a backlog of COVID issues, new global supply disruptions and increasing commodity prices could also end up working their way through to new car buyers in the form of higher prices, but this remains to be seen. Whether some new car buyers are pre-empting this and beginning the search for their next car now, we’re not quite sure just yet.

New car interest by brand

Last week’s rebound was led by all the usual names that dominate the popularity stakes, including Mazda, Kia, Hyundai and Mitsubishi. Each of these brands were at the centre of a large double-digit spike in search traffic and price queries, which bodes well as a forward indicator in terms of future sales.

Toyota also made a strong move up the list, only narrowly missing out on the top five, despite most Toyota shoppers typically dealing with the brand’s showrooms directly rather than through the PriceMyCar platform. 

Volkswagen also recorded a healthy bump in terms of search volumes, leapfrogging BMW among the premium brands to take top spot in that sub-category. More broadly, barely any auto-maker put a foot wrong last week, with only a handful of low-volume brands seeing a pull-back in terms of search interest.

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